Button Love & WIP

O, the things you do to keep yourself from grading papers! I, for example, are in the process to succumbing to red hot button-lust. Aren't these darlings pretty?

I've already got these - I love the slight retro touch. They would look lovely on a pastel pink Sencha blouse.

But these are very cute, too:

And these:

And these, too:


Apart from succumbing to button-lust, I'm also smooching with the Muse again these days. (Yay! She's back!!!!). And I'm happy to report that I've got names for my hero (George Augustus Frederick Griffin) and heroine (Carlotta Staunton, short Charlie), for her best friend (Emma-Louise, short Emma-Lee) and that I've finished the first chapter this morning. :)

O What a Circus!

Got those today. Ain't they pretty? And I've bought enough fabric for two quilts! :)




In other news: My heroine has now got a gun in her carpet bag. O the things you pick up on the journey from Edinburgh to London!

And more: Yesterday I blogged about the Pre-Raphaelites on Unusual Historicals.

My Very First Clothing Project

Here's one of my sewing WIPs - my very first garment project, to be exact. It's the Sencha blouse by Colette Patterns.

The blue cotton/poly blend was on sale at Karstadt (for just 1,50 € per metre!!!!), so it doesn't really matter whether I mess up with my first blouse or not. (Though it would be nice if I wouldn't mess up, of course!) The fabric is very smooth and has a beautiful drape. Unfortunately, the colour makes the result look like an ER shirt. *sigh*

I'll try to save it by sewing a round of decorative stitches around the neck and the sleeve hems.

Apart from the small matter of the colour, I'm rather satisfied with how this blouse is coming along - by now all the darts as well as the shoulder and side seams are sewn, thus I could already try it on, and it seems to fit. Hooray!

The Muse Talketh through the Alpha Smart

And it happened here:

All the necessities for smooching with the Muse in one little corner: comfy chair, Alpha Smart, cup of tea, research books! :)

This is the beginning (you might remember this bit from last year) (please ignore mirror image of top of my head after a writing session - I do terrible things to my hair when smooching with the Muse!):

Here we meet the hero for the very first time:

And here you can see the influence of the Manchester conference on the cultural production of disability which attended in January:

The hero's dilemma (or, let's say, the reason for his dilemma):

More smooching sessions to follow soon!

My new shoes

They're red. With a retro-touch. And very comfortable. And did I mention that they are red? I love them to pieces! Now I'm all ready and eager for spring to arrive. (Do you hear me, St. Peter? No more of that white stuff!)

After I had bought the shoes I went and got some lovely dark denim to sew a dress for the shoes. If the sewing doesn't work out, Plan B is to steal Amanda's adorable denim dress.

How to ruin your hero's day (no branding involved this time!)

1. Let him wake up with a hangover ...
   
2. ... in an uncomfortable chair
3. ... with an unpleasant interview ahead of him.
4. Let him almost be run over by a heavy, horse-drawn cart.
5. Put him into uncomfortable clothes ...
6. ... and make him wear uncomfortable shoes.
7. Give him a family who hates him.
8. Lay massive guilt on him.
   
9. Make somebody force him to marry ...
10. ... and to relocate ...
11. .... and to give up his beloved flat in the heart of London.

Considering what my other heroes had to go through (imprisonment, branding, almost-castration, leg whacked off ...), this one is actually quite lucky. :)

Kitteh lends a helping hand ... eh ... paw

Here I sit, helping my human with the course schedule for her grad seminar in Toronto.

See? I do all the hard work, while she just stands there and takes pictures.

I do.

I do.

If it hadn't been for me, my human would have never finished that schedule!